Small shops..viability?

C_Mababejive

I do wonder how small businesses can be viable. In recent weeks i have been in an empty shop that was being refitted as a fas food outlet. Complete redecoration/rewiring/outfitted with cooking and food processing equipment etc. The other day i was in an equally empty shell being refitted as some kind of ladies beauty parlour. The cost of renting/paying business rates for premises must be high alone but the cost of shop refitting and equipment must be very high. It all seems high risk in the hope that customers will come in buy food or have a Brazilian??

Presumably to afford such big refits you may have to provide collateral to obtain finance?

I think most people perceive that if you run a small business,you must be well off. I know of someone for example who runs a womens hair salon..a bit up market,,but is only just making a living...

Themandarin

I'll tell you how I started up.

Three years ago, I took on an empty shop. I spent £8k fitting it out as a hair and beauty salon (I am a hairdresser) and opened up in August 2009.

I've made a reasonable living from it and a bit more. I believe strongly that recession or no recession, you can make it work for you.

Of course starting a small business is high risk. If not, wouldn't everyone be doing it?

motorguy

Themandarin wrote: »

I'll tell you how I started up.

Three years ago, I took on an empty shop. I spent £8k fitting it out as a hair and beauty salon (I am a hairdresser) and opened up in August 2009.

I've made a reasonable living from it and a bit more. I believe strongly that recession or no recession, you can make it work for you.

Of course starting a small business is high risk. If not, wouldn't everyone be doing it?

There are a huge amount of caveats around that statement and you have previous experience in that field.

Unfortunately there are loads of people who think just because you can open a small business, it will be successful.

Only true for a relatively small amount though

Buffett

I think high street retail is dying out, thanks to online shopping and big supermarkets/industrial estate shops. That's why many high streets are turning into beauty/food/drink/estate agent/mobile phone zones!

When taking on a retail unit, people need to ask themselves why it is vacant in the first place and why they will succeed if others are failing.

It is a pity, but the first rule of business is to be able to adapt to changes in your environment. E.g. a retail shop without a Web presence makes no sense anymore

motorguy

Buffett wrote: »

I think high street retail is dying out, thanks to online shopping and big supermarkets/industrial estate shops. That's why many high streets are turning into beauty/food/drink/estate agent/mobile phone zones!

When taking on a retail unit, people need to ask themselves why it is vacant in the first place and why they will succeed if others are failing.

It is a pity, but the first rule of business is to be able to adapt to changes in your environment. E.g. a retail shop without a Web presence makes no sense anymore

Have to agree.

The retail high street is dead on its feet.

plzhelpmesave!

i have a small premises - low rent but main exppense is staff and constantly marketing to keep people coming in.

Im not taking wage yet as I can only just afford to pay staff but needs both of us there!

wish I'd looked more into the worst case scenario instead of planning around the best case!

wymondham

Businesses, especially small businesses need to keep their overheads as low as possible, and shop rent is one area that is a big chunk of your income regardless of how well you're doing.... In this day and age, if you can avoid a presence on the high street then your money will be better spent elsewhere....

patman99

I only need to look at my hometown of Colchester. We used to have 4 independent ironmongers (Evans, Brown's, Farmers & Jacks). Now, only Jacks survives.Browns closed 10 years back and is now converted back to housing. Farmers is an estate agents and Evans was a restaurant (I had the pleasure of knowing the new owner, so got to look around the old place prior to it's conversion).
I went into Jacks last week as they are the cheapest place for just about everything DIY & even they are only just surviving. They have had no choice but to go online & compete with the other sellers on Amazon/eBid/ebay.
Just a short walk away, my friends goth/rock clothing shop is struggling to remain open. Within 100 metres of his shop are 3 others that are now empty but which were all new ventures freshly opened in the last 18 months.

On the other hand, I work in Sudbury which does not have good road links to other towns, so you do not see any vacant shops as the locals tend to shop within the town boundaries due to the expense of getting to other towns to shop.

I have also noticed this with other small towns. It does seem that where a town has good transport links to others in the area, then you get a large number of empty shops. Where the transport links are slow/expensive, the local shops survive quite well.

Yes, the net does have an impact on trade, but then so does the ease of getting to other major shopping areas.